Godawari Emobility, a Chhattisgarh-based start-up, has lined up an ambitious product launch strategy in its first year of vehicle production. Starting April 2022 through September 2022, the company aims to launch nine different electric vehicle (EV) products.
Speaking to Mobility Outlook, Siddharth Agrawal, Director, Godawari Emobility, revealed these vehicles will include three e-cycles, three e-scooters, an L3 e-rikshaw and an e-autorikshaw and an e-cargo vehicle in the L5N category.
The e-autorikshaw is scheduled to debut in April next year, followed by the launch of three e-cycles in June. Agrawal confirmed these four products are in the testing phase currently, while the rest are in the design stage.
Manufacturing Plant
The start-up has invested close to INR 50 crore in building its manufacturing facility in Raipur that is spread over an area of 100,000 sq ft. Once ready, the plant will have a total production capacity of 100,000 vehicles per annum. Funds for the plant were raised through internal accruals and from the Hira Group and Mahendra Group, Agrawal confirmed.
The plant will also be utilised for assembling and manufacturing of battery packs for the EVs. Rest of the components will be outsourced from other Indian suppliers, while cells for the batteries will be imported from China and Japan. “We have identified two to three suppliers for each component, so that there is no issue with supply of components and the assembly line doesn't get disturbed,” Agrawal added.
In the first year, the company aims to produce 10,000 vehicles. The objective is to gradually raise production capacity each year. “We plan to increase the capacity to 35,000 units by the second year and reach the one lakh mark within the next five years,” he confirmed.
Dealership Network
The start-up currently operates a leasing business of electric three-wheelers under the ‘eblu’ brand in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Delhi NCR and a couple of cities in Punjab and Maharashtra with a spread of 40 dealerships.
It intends to enter the South Indian market with the introduction of the L5N e-autorikshaw, setting up in the process a network of 30 dealerships across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. The goal is to get these dealers on board by the end of March 2022.
This apart, it also plans to set-up 30 more dealerships in the western and eastern part of the country. “We plan to improve the network to 55-60 in the northern states, while adding another 15-20 dealerships in South India and take the total strength to 150 dealerships by 2023,” Agrawal confirmed.
Long Term Plan
Over the next five years, Godawari Emobility aims to become a mobility company that provides a wide range of vehicles, with both passenger and cargo applications at various price points.
Once it starts rolling out products off its facility in Raipur, Agrawal expects to sell about 5,000 units of the L5N e-autorikshaw, around 2,000 units in the L3 category and around 3,000-4,000 units of e-cycles in addition to a few electric scooters in FY23 – accounting for about 10,000-15,000 units in the first year of operations.
That, together with its existing leasing business, should generate revenues of INR 20-25 crore in FY23, Agrawal said.
By the end of 2025, the company hopes to have a manufacturing facility capable of producing one lakh vehicles across all segments. To accomplish this, the company is planning to invest up to INR 250 crore as per the requirements for further growth and expansion plans. This would mainly be through promoters' family equity, while the company might look for a small disinvestment looking at the market traction .
These funds, as confirmed by Agrawal, will mostly be utilised in building infrastructure and adding machineries, equipment, assembly lines and technology. By around the same time, the company hopes to build 20-30% of the vehicle components in-house. This apart the funds will also be utilised in marketing and increasing its dealer network, among others.